Walking With the Dead
by JustOneMoreMiracle
Summary: When Morgana plans to raise some of the most powerful sorcerers from the dead Merlin, Arthur and the knights must travel to the Land of the Dead to stop her but what will they discover about each other and themselves while they are there.


"If you want any hope of stopping Morgana you must visit the Lake of Avalon where you must seek help from the Lady of the Lake." Gaius' words had jolted Merlin out of his oblivious daydreaming. The lady of the lake? If she wasn't magic then he was a monkey. Arthur seemed as confused as Merlin was.

"Gaius, you know how I feel about the use of magic."

"I do sire, but I fear that the only way to stop Morgana is to enter the Land of the Dead. If she plans to unleash the spirits of your dead enemies into this world, you MUST stop her before she releases them and the only way to do this is from the inside."

There was a stunned silence before Gwaine put his hand up, like a child at school. "Erm... if we go to the Land of the Dead, does this mean we'll meet dead people?"

Gaius sighed "Yes, you will need the help of spirits, but I warn you, no matter who you meet there, what you discover, you cannot stay there." He cast a quick, knowing glance at Merlin. "Even if you have loved ones there, you CANNOT remain there. It is not your time- any of you, no matter what the temptation; come back." With that he stood up and left, quickly followed by the knights and Merlin, all of whom looked deep in thought about what they were going to do.

At sunrise next morning, they left to find the Lake of Avalon. Gaius had told them he had given Merlin directions, knowing that he knew the way there. The entire journey everyone was silent until they arrived at the Lake. It was breathtakingly beautiful. There were mountains and trees and in the middle, a huge, shimmering lake. Merlin blinked back tears at the memory of what could have been.

_"Somewhere with mountains. A few fields. Wild flowers. A couple of cows. And a lake."_

He couldn't stop the tears from falling but he wiped them away before anyone else noticed. They stood there waiting for this Lady of the Lake to show herself.

"Hello" said a soft voice. It seemed to echo around the valley but come from nowhere.

"Where are you? Arthur replied. Everyone looked around apprehensively. Was this person friend or foe?

"I'm here" the voice replied and at that moment the lake began rippling and a figure started to emerge. The knights nervously edged their hands towards their swords but Merlin was staring in shock. In front of them, standing on the water was a young woman. She had brown eyes and silky brown hair and she was wearing an expensive red dress fit for a princess, which, the knights assumed she was. But Merlin knew better.

"Please, I mean you no harm I want only to help. Please step into the lake. I can't leave you see."

No one moved for a moment until, as if in a trance, Merlin walked into the lake. She smiled so everyone else followed. Then, she greeted them each individually, somehow knowing their names. When she got to Arthur she curtsied, but if you'd looked close enough you'd have seen a slight flicker of fear just before. And finally she saw Merlin.

"Why are you crying Merlin?" she asked. All the knights were stunned. None of them had ever seen Merlin cry before, and yet here he was, crying for no apparent reason. Merlin however, hadn't even realised he _was_ crying. All he could think was that it was her. She was here. Alive- well- sort of. She was here.

Arthur was getting impatient, "_Mer_lin, wake up and answer- sorry I never caught your name?"

"Freya"

"Yes- Freya. Merlin what's gotten into you, honestly?"

"It's alright Arthur Pendragon; he's had somewhat of a shock." For some reason she smiled as she said this. Merlin laughed weakly.

"You're telling me…" he muttered. She laughed at his expression of total amazement.

"Well _Mer_lin, care to explain?" Arthur's voice was impatient and confused; he didn't like not knowing what was going on. Merlin's head snapped round and he answered quite sharply. "No, not really."

"Oh come on mate because, no offense but you're acting kind of weird." This time it was Gwaine who tried to get him to explain.

"Look, it's kind of hard to explain and I don't really want you to know much of it to be honest. Sorry, but I'm just not ready." He looked up at Freya and she nodded but replied, "You know Merlin, where we're going, they're going to find out."

"I suppose, but let them find out then; another couple of hours of peace."

"I suppose I owe it to you." She said with a faint, sad, smile.

"You don't owe me anything Freya. I could never hold anything against you." They seemed to have forgotten there was anyone else there and none of them wanted to interrupt this strange scene.

"You have every right to." Her voice sounded sad now and she cast a quick glance at Arthur.

"I couldn't. And besides, if I'd been more careful like you'd said, if I'd been quicker…"

"Merlin… Don't ever blame yourself. It broke the curse. And I died happy. I could never have wished for more." They were so close now they were practically touching.

No one wanted to break the moment but they were all very confused and Arthur really hated not knowing. He coughed and they broke apart. Then it dawned on them what had just happened. Merlin looked weary. He looked up at Freya.

"Briefly? We met, we fell in love, and she was killed." His voice was hurt and everyone looked horrified. Freya didn't seem like the kind of person who anyone could hate, let alone enough to kill.

"Merlin," Arthur's voice was soft, "who killed her?"

He gave a humourless laugh "you won't like the answer to that Arthur I promise. I don't blame him though. He did what he had to. I just wish it had turned out differently…"

"Merlin." He repeated, "Who was it."

Freya looked at him "Arthur, please, it doesn't matter, I don't blame him either."

But Arthur's mind was somewhere else now. It was back in the castle, a few years ago. They had her cornered, the druid girl, "Please" she said before her body was ripped into the painful transformation into a killing machine.

"I did." He said to himself in horror. He was too stunned to think. He had killed Merlin's love. How could he have forgiven him? He tried to imagine the situations in reverse, if Guinevere was the one who died and he didn't think he'd have been able to keep working. He'd just shut down. But now that he thought about it, for about a week after the bastet- Freya- was killed Merlin had seemed to be empty. He went about his chores in silence, like a proper servant until Arthur had finally asked him what was wrong.

"Merlin I am so sorry-"

"No, Arthur, we don't blame you. You did what you had to."

"But-"

"No- Arthur, stop it. It doesn't matter now, what's done is done."

"Right. Well…" after everything everyone seemed to have already lost sight of what they were there for. "Anyway, back to the original reason why we are here. Please can you take us to the Land of the Dead?"

She smiled, "of course. And there's someone on the other side waiting for you all. Follow me."


End file.
